#discussCLT

Conversations to move our city forward

CHARLOTTE MAGAZINE is committed to making Charlotte better. Each year, we highlight a few people who have moved the city forward in our December Charlotteans of the Year issue, then throw a ceremony in their honor.

In 2016, we had an idea for expanding the program and give the honorees a chance to further the discussion, so we teamed up with OrthoCarolina to hold a series of speaker events called #discussCLT. The events brought together a few of the magazine’s recent Charlotteans of the Year and other local leaders and citizens to talk about our city’s biggest civic issues—the achievement gap in public schools, the lack of affordable housing, arts funding—and potential solutions.

In 2017, we expanded once again with the launch of discussclt.com, creating a one-stop home to continue the discussions we have in person year-round. The website is updated each week with fresh stories and perspectives on the issues of the day. Most of the stories on the site will be produced by contributing editor Greg Lacour, a renowned journalist with one of the most distinct writing voices in the city. We also have two podcasts per month, produced by contributing editor Andy Smith and podcasting guru Andy Goh. A monthly e-newsletter brings all this information right to your inbox, and we will continue our #discussclt events with even more speakers and tough conversations about our city’s future in 2018.

These divided times bring timely issues and their importance into sharp relief—and discussclt.com is here to provide a way to learn more about them and use that knowledge to act.

ABOUT GREG LACOUR:

PHOTO BY LOGAN CYRUS

Greg Lacour has been a contributing editor for Charlotte for four years, writing primarily about local and state politics. He’s also contributed reporting and writing to The Washington Post; Reuters; The Nation, Our State, OnEarth, Next City, and Distinction magazines; and contributed radio stories to WFAE-FM in Charlotte. Lacour spent 10 years as a reporter with The Charlotte Observer, covering local government and crime; he was part of a team that won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for The Sun Herald of Mississippi for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. A native of New Orleans, Lacour has lived in Charlotte for a decade; he is single and lives in NoDa.